re: Lions @ Saints Discussion

quote:

---

Week One: The Lions travel to New Orleans. The Lions have a rookie QB starting on the road. The Lions have virtually no pass rush. The Lions have a banged up starting secondary. The Saints have Drew Brees and six seconds in the pocket. Game over.

---

Nice!

MUST WATCH VIDEO ON LIONS

im looking forward to our defense actually playing defense and hoping our offense continues knowing how to play offense

WHAT ARE YOUR KEYS TO THE GAME?

Offense
I won't be surprised to see a pass first approach. Get a lead and keep them on their heels. Transition to short control passes and Bell/Hamilton up the middle grinding.

Defense
Job one will be to to stop Kevin Smith. He ran for 111 yds on 24 carries against NO last year. They will try to replicate that. Expect run blitzes and Harper in the box a lot. Dangerous wideouts are good targets for Stafford. I'm expecting Stafford to have similar stats to Peyton Manning's first NFL game- 21/37 1TD 3INT 4Sacks.

I find it funny that both the Saints and LSU are kicking off this season by facing teams that were winless the year before.

but I have a feeling the Saints will stomp all over Detroit....unlike LSU with Washington.

quote:

---

Lions are kicking off this season by facing teams that were winless the year before.

---

we knew what you were talking bout mouth, even though you fricked it up.

for your scorekeeping Duncan twittered uniform number changes...

Here are Saints' official jersey No. changes: J.Carney from 1 to 3; J.Cassillas from 62 to 52; J.Kyle from 52 to 57; S.Arnoux from 57 to 59.

I'd agree with all you said. Oh and we should Crush this team.

more Lions fans talk-

Agreed, all the trash talk in papers* from the Saints defense is pretty amusing given their terrible defense last season. Sure they made some upgrades, but at best NO's D will be middle of the pack. The trash talk would mean alot more if it came from say the Ravens or Steelers defense, because they can flat out dominate the entire game not only stopping the opposing offense but turning the ball over and putting points on the board.

* LINK

Yea the Lions stink but that is big talk coming from a Saint's defense who could not stop anyone last year--falling apart at the end of the year can be largely attributed to their loud mouthed defense.

The best way to stop Drew Brees is to keep him on the sidelines with a towel and a bottle of Gatorade in his hand and not taking snaps under center. That is the same thing I tried to get everyone to understand last season the offense and the defense work off each other. If the offense is horrible it will turn the ball over or keep the defense on the field too long which will lead to fatigue and poor play by the 3rd or 4th period when it matters most.

Long sustained offensive drives that lead to touchdowns and good field position by special teams will go a long way in helping that defense. All 3 phases of the game work together. Keep an eye on how many yards we allow them to pick up on 1st down. If we can keep them below 2 or 3 yards on 1st down (or no yards if they are throwing on 1st down) that changes the play calling for 2nd & 3rd down.

I think Shockey will be one of the keys to this game. Let's see if we've learned to cover the TE in pass coverage unlike years past.

I do think the Saints will likely win this game because they are more talented & experienced overall. With that said talking trash could backfire on them somewhat. It should motivate our O line to try and maul them at the point of attack. Linehan won't give Matt a limited playbook but he will try to control the time of possesion and keep the Saints offense on the sideline where they can't score. The big story this Sunday will be whether or not we can run the ball (we did OK with it in pre-season even against the #1's). If we run the ball and tire out that smack talking blitzing defense and get them focused on the run that's when Matt will look to go over the top to Calvin.

The key is whether we can run. If we can I don't think Matt will have more than 20 pass attempts. Early success running the ball will equal a competitive game if we can't run the ball it will be a long day. I also expect Matt to take a few sacks rather than throwing the INT's which is good coaching.

Don't be too confident about this team. Five wins max. Remember, Ford Sr. still runs the show. I will be shocked if they win this game or any the first 6 weeks.

I hope the Saints blitz him all day - and then he burns them with a screen pass or the deep ball to Calvin. A lot of Saints fans are thinking this will be an easy win. Just wait 'till they see how much this team has improved. The Lions will end their losing streak this week!